Caroling Rocks Dam No. 16

Parent Place or Precinct

16610 Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

Statement of Significance

Hunt's track has great historical significance as a precursor to other events, including: 1. The establishment of the telegraph line to Kalgoorlie and the first stage of the transcontinental railway line, both of which follow its general course. 2. The routing of the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline. 3. The movement of prospectors and later pastoralists in the Western Australian interior.

Physical Description

Charles C Hunt led government backed expeditions into the Yilgarn between 1864-66. His aim was to discover and map water sources that could ensure a reliable supply for future venturers going east. He also sought a further assessment of the region for pastoral use. The expeditions led to the discovery of some good water sources. Some were improved by being shored up or having the catchment area enlarged. A number of water sites mapped by C Hunt have been recognised as significant to the survival of the early explorers, prospectors and settlers in the Yilgarn district. During his second journey of 1864 for the York Agricultural Society and subsequent expeditions in 1865 and 1866, Hunt succeeded in clearing a track some 300 miles to the east of York. The track which he cut as far as Lake Lefroy was cleared the greatest part of the series of 26 wells, dams, tanks, soaks and other seasonally reliable water holes, securing a safe route to the Hampton Plains. Hunt's wells and soaks were constructed by a workforce of pensioner soldiers and probationary convicts. The wells took many hours to build, being carefully lined with slabs of granite and timber poles. In his journeys ahead of his constniction team to look for more potential wells. Hunt often came upon wells that he named and recorded locations for, although he chose not to develop them as the water yield was either insufficient or not reliable enough to be included in this track. One of these wells is at Duladgin, now on the Duladgin Nature Reserve and Class C Reserve. Karolling / Carolling Rocks Dam (Well No.16) - Located in a small gully bearing east from Karolling / Caroling Rock. (Hunt's survey spells it “K”) Hunt's survey puts the dam and tanks on reserve 13230. When Hunt visited this site he commented on the prevalence of box poison, white gum forest to the edge of the dam and the natural basin on the rock. Hunt recommended a 150 acre reserve on the site. In 1910 the size of the reserve was gazetted as 640 acres.

History

Many of the wells that Hunt and his party excavated were well known by his Aboriginal guides. The local people knew of these water sources, but at times were reluctant to divulge their location as it was on these water sources on which their lives depended. Surveyors and explorers such as Hunt and John and Alexander Forrest, and others, agreed that without the assistance of their Aboriginal guides, they would never have reached the remote places in the interior as they did. During Hunt's third expedition east in 1865, his construction party met some Aborigines who referred to the water in the Karoling Rock as "gully never dead". The basin was supplied from two fissures that drained down from the rock above. Hunt's team blasted the rock and enlarged the basin. Reserve No 13236 is presently a Class A Reserve for the conservation of flora and fauna and for the water source.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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